Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday hosted lunch for visiting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his officials residence in Hyderabad. They exchanged views on a host of issues ranging from ease of doing business to law and order, Telangana welfare schemes, tourism and information technology.

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, other ministers and top officials were present during the meeting.

Mr Vijayan, who is on a two-day visit to Hyderabad to attend various programmes, was all praise for the programmes and schemes launched by the Telangana government and for becoming the number one state in the country in terms of ease of doing business.

The Telangana Chief Minister sought allocation of land for the construction of guest house for pilgrims from his state in Sabarimala. Both states have already signed a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard and the issue is pending with the Travancore Devasthanam Board.

Mr Rao told Mr Vijayan that lakhs of devotees from Telangana regularly go on pilgrimage to Sabarimala, and requested the visiting Chief Minister to expedite the matter.

He explained the innovative and hassle-free industrial policy of the state and said this helped the state in achieving top rank in ease of doing business. Mr Vijayan showed key interest in the land reforms and maintenance of land records in Telangana.

Telangana Information Technology Minister KT Rama Rao, who is the son of the Chief Minister and was present in the meeting, briefed the Kerala Chief Minister about the rapid strides Telangana has made in the IT, IT-enabled services sector.

He said that Goa had already signed an MoU with Telangana on the exchange of IT knowledge and Kerala could also sign a similar MoU with the state. Both Chief Ministers exchanged views on culture and tourism. Mr Rao hailed Kerala for being one of the most beautiful places in the country.

Mr Vijayan talked about Kerala's Ayurveda system of medicine, which is popular all over the world. He also spoke about the health care, hospitals and health tourism of Kerala.